Nicole Neal Sustainabilityhttps://nicolenealsustainability.com
Nicole Neal is a sustainability practitioner, leader, advocate and mentor in the infrastructure & construction sectorThu, 05 Jul 2018 07:26:04 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://sixstringsustainability.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/cropped-cropped-p10003281.jpg?w=32Nicole Neal Sustainabilityhttps://nicolenealsustainability.com
3232The Purpose and Impacts of ISCA: A Practitioner’s Perspectivehttps://nicolenealsustainability.com/2018/06/22/the-purpose-and-impacts-of-isca-a-practitioners-perspective/
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 04:53:56 +0000http://nicolenealsustainability.com/?p=1115Continue Reading →]]>The kinds folks over at ISCA invited me to write a guest post for their refreshed website, so I thought Id take the opportunity to talk about the purpose of the organisation and the impacts that it has had and is having in the construction and infrastructure industry across Australia and New Zealand.

]]>ISCA_LogonixnealWhat Does It Take To Be A Good Sustainability Manager?https://nicolenealsustainability.com/2018/05/28/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-good-sustainability-manager/
Mon, 28 May 2018 07:00:29 +0000http://nicolenealsustainability.com/?p=1110Continue Reading →]]>

After having a few conversations recently on this subject directly or indirectly around with peers, colleagues and mentees alike I thought this might be quite a ripe topic for sharing here on the blog.

So, I guess the question in the heading is rather a broad one – what do we mean by “good”? And what do we mean by sustainability manager or sustainability professional?

Well, by “good” let’s go really basic and say someone that has at the very least a reasonable level of competence in delivering on an expected set of outcomes, and perhaps even goes beyond that somewhat.

And when I say sustainability manager or sustainability professional I mean someone that has, as a primary function of their role, responsibility for sustainability strategy and/ or its implementation and driving towards certain sustainable outcomes within an organisation or infrastructure project in particular (given that that is my main point of reference!).

Okay, now we have that out of the way back to the question at hand – what makes a good sustainability manager?

Aside from the desire to want to drive change, and see that good outcomes occur on your project from social, economic, governance and environmental perspectives, there are a few key defining traits in my experience. Here are my top picks, in no particular order:

(1) Some specialist knowledge in one or two fields (or perhaps more), a good spread of knowledge across a range of other fields (environmental sciences, social sciences, engineering, design etc) but most importantly the desire to continually learn

Let’s go with the technical stuff first. Yes, it definitely helps to have a reasonably strong technical knowledge in one or perhaps two fields, but no that doesn’t automatically mean an environmental science-based discipline. You could be coming out of a communications and community engagement background, an engineering background, a systems background (I know an absolute gun sustainability manager from a systems background).

Having this solid foundation is really important, but so is the willingness to continually expand your knowledge and experience further across myriad fields so that (a) you know what you’re talking about in the context of a multi-faceted, multi-disciplined infrastructure project (!), (b) you know what other people are talking about, and (c) you can make even greater contributions to your project or organisation based on greater experience and knowledge.

(2) Ability to see the bigger picture

The ability to see the bigger picture and think strategically (as well as some of the finer details – see first point above re specialist knowledge) is an important attribute for a sustainability manager. You’ve got to understand that if one metaphorical lever is pulled, optimising a certain aspect of a project, say for example material use, that that can have a number of consequences cascading from that.

As a sustainability manager your ability to see and understand that things don’t happen in isolation – and your ability to communicate that with your project team – is essential. In fact….

(3) Top notch communication and interpersonal skills

In order to help people understand what sustainability means in the context of their particular project, what it means for them, the outcomes being striven for and how they are a part of the puzzle in creating certain outcomes, a good sustainability manager is also a very good listener, a very good question asker, a very good synthesiser of information and pretty handy at refining communication style to the particular person or audience communicating with.

And a sense of humour comes in pretty handy most of the time too.

(4) Ability to Believe in Yourself and Back Yourself

I have had sooooo many conversations with people working in sustainability management and in broader sustainability fields recently where one of my core pieces of advice has been “you can do it, you know. Back yourself”.

Given that sustainability management, particularly in infrastructure and construction, is a relatively new thing there are a number of people really looking to find their feet and find their way in this (and why I’m always happy to chat and help and mentor where I can). So I suppose this may go some of the way to explaining why I’m having some of these kinds of conversations with people.

More often than not I’m talking with folks that have got more than a solid idea about what should or should not be occurring on the project they’re on or the organisation they’re in, but perhaps don’t feel the sense of agency (real or perceived) or the ability or even the right (!) to do or suggest something. In that situation I say, yes, it might feel uncomfortable for you, scary even, but back yourself. You’re in your role for a reason. Someone believed that you could do the role. Believe that you can do it, and step right into it.

But do balance that with….

(5) Humility and knowing when to defer to greater authorities, take and seek advice

No person is an island, and no one of us individually can ever hope to know everything. Know and understand where the limits of your knowledge, experience and expertise lay and seek advice, thoughts and inputs on ideas, solutions and so on that lie outside of the boundaries. Even within those boundaries it doesn’t hurt to touch base with others for a bit of a sense check.

And when working with things like sustainability rating tools (ISCA, GreenStar etc), always always always read, re-read, check and double-check things like guidance or technical manuals – you don’t want you hard work to be dashed against the rocks because of an assumption. And if something is unclear seek opinions, but always check with the relevant authorities!

(6) Personal Resilience

Yup, if I had a dollar for every time someone did the equivalent of telling me to bugger off in a professional setting when commencing conversations around sustainability (in a totally professional way of course), then I would be a heinously rich woman, and living on my own personal Greek island in the Mediterranean somewhere…..

That kind of thing happens a lot less these days as the understanding of sustainability, sustainable development and sustainability in infrastructure and construction grows, but it happened a lot in the early days of my career. And that was, I have no doubt, as much about how I approached and messaged things as it was about the level of understanding of the person I was conversing with. More so, probably.

So, personal resilience and the ability to get back up and brush yourself down, re-calibrate and carry on working towards an outcome is a must. And it’s a must time and time again.

And as one develops in ones career the challenges, the types of conversations and discussions that once were challenges become that little bit easier with experience, and new ones present themselves. So flexing that personal resilience muscle, with the ability to keep working towards the required or desired outcomes is an essential trait of a good sustainability manager.

There are many, many more attributes that make up a “good” sustainability manager, and attributes that we all need to develop as things move, flex and change from project to project and as the industry matures (and I’m more than sure there are attributes that I’m still to learn about myself!). All the better for future blog posts on the subject!

]]>nixnealIMG_0365Resilience in Major Infrastructure Projectshttps://nicolenealsustainability.com/2018/04/30/resilience-in-major-infrastructure-projects/
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 08:30:32 +0000http://nicolenealsustainability.com/?p=1107Continue Reading →]]>Oh my goodness – how time flies when one is having fun! It was 8th March last time I posted and here we are now at the end of April!

Anyway, I do have a couple of posts in the offing, but I thought I’d offer this up to share in the meantime (and at least provide some proof that I’ve not been sitting on my backside here in Melbourne!).

A couple of weeks ago I was honoured to lead an absolutely fantastic line up of speakers in a great panel discussion on resilience in major infrastructure projects, as part of Engineers Australia’s Thought Leaders Series in Melbourne. I was joined by Luke Belfield from Major Projects, Department of Premier and Cabinet (VIC), Samantha Johnson – Executive Director HSEQ from McConnell Dowell, Toby Kent – Chief Resilience Officer at Resilient Melbourne, Peter Wilkinson – Director, Development and Delivery at Melbourne Metro Rail Authority (now re-titled Rail Projects Victoria) and my colleague Antony Cameron – Technical Direector, Infrastructure & Strategy, from our Wellington office.

The whole shindig was recorded live and available for viewing here, so check it out!

]]>nixnealCelebrating the Wonderful Women in Infrastructurehttps://nicolenealsustainability.com/2018/03/08/celebrating-the-wonderful-women-in-infrastructure/
Thu, 08 Mar 2018 04:00:20 +0000http://nicolenealsustainability.com/?p=1104Continue Reading →]]>In my last post I mentioned that one of the topics I wanted to talk about was about women in sustainability or women in infrastructure more broadly.

Well, the lovely folks at ISCA gave me a good reason to get my backside into gear and commit my thoughts to page (well, screen more accurately!) by asking me to participate in an article for International Women’s Day (#pressforprogress) along with some other wonderful women in the industry including 2017 IS Individual Leadership award finalists Reanna Harper and Liz Root and four of ISCA’s female board members – Sarah Marshall, Leisel Moorhead, Monique Cornish and Dorte Eklund.

I’ve broken my part of the article out below but I strongly encourage you to check out the full article here:

What is your greatest triumph in your career – what are you most proud of, and what motivates you?

That’s a big question, so many things that can read as a triumph in my opinion! Moving to Australia on my own in 2006 knowing not a soul, helping to start Arup’s Sustainability team in Melbourne, working on my own as a freelance gun for hire for a period, working sustainability into the common parlance and organizational strategy of a major construction firm, achieving Signatory status to the UN Global Compact with said construction firm, taking on a Director role in Cardno at the end of last year. Pretty pleased with all of those things! Of course, being honoured as the recipient of the ISCA Individual Leadership Award last year was very, very special indeed, and it was the cherry on the cake in terms of a lot of hard work and persistence put in over not just the last year, but for a number of years.

I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve managed to stick to my guns with regards to sustainability and helping others across the construction and infrastructure delivery industries understand what sustainability is as a first off and then to understand what it means for their business or their particular project. It has taken a lot of perseverance and personal resilience, coming through a number of years of listening to naysayers and hyper-skeptics – but I took that as a real gift, those are the kind of people where you really sharpen your listening and other communication skills and ability to do your job very well as a sustainability professional.

What motivates me is taking on the next challenge. I seem to be a real glutton for punishment and have a perverse attraction to the tough stuff. I love it!

What advice would you give to young women starting their careers in infrastructure?

Do it! Get stuck in and get involved. This is such an exciting time to be working in infrastructure. I love this industry, in terms of its pace, developments in techniques, technologies and approaches, the ability to contribute to something significant to society and the communities we live in and the solid friendships that are forged.

Take time to build relationships and build your network. And I don’t mean go out pressing the flesh and collecting business cards. I mean talk to your colleagues, peers, clients and professional acquaintances like the human beings that they are. Trust is a very important thing, and the foundation of trust is built in knowing who you’re working with. We all move around in different parts of the industry these days, so one day you may be working side by side as colleagues, but in the future someone may be a client or contractor or supplier. So that’s important from a business development and connectivity point of view, but more importantly than that these people (and I stress people – male and female) become important people in your life, as friends, touchstones, mentors and guides.

How has the industry changed since you first started?

A whole lot has changed since I started my career in the UK in around about 2002. For a start-out there weren’t really such roles as “Sustainability Managers” nor sustainability professionals really, and especially not in the infrastructure space. It was really in its infancy at that time in the UK. Then when I moved to Australia in 2006 I thought I’d gone back in time sustainability-wise! In last five years the understanding and perception of sustainability in infrastructure has really begun to move in a very positive direction however – there’s much greater understanding, a much greater awareness for the need for consideration of sustainability in all its facets in the development, delivery and operation of infrastructure.

With respect to females in the infrastructure industry and how things have changed I’d say on the positive side that I’ve been fortunate in my career to work with relatively enlightened individuals and teams and I’ve only had, by and large, encouraging and constructive experiences as a female in a largely male-dominated industry. But on the not so positive side, it still is that – male-dominated. Not that I’ve got anything against men, believe me far from it! And I’d say it’s not the fault, or rather not the entire fault of industry, but rather how and what we’re teaching young people in schools, homes and communities about the possibilities for their career paths and other pursuits. There’s no real reason why infrastructure design, development, delivery and operation should be gendered in any particular direction – we all use this infrastructure in our daily lives.

This year’s international Women’s Day theme is #PressforProgress – what does that mean to you?

I don’t necessarily like to make a “thing” of being a woman in infrastructure really, and never have done. It’s irrelevant as far as I’m concerned, and to press for progress should mean that we get to the point where everyone sees it as an irrelevance as to what gender someone identifies as in a professional sphere. I don’t see that the roll of nature’s dice re the chromosomes and soggy bag of hormones I was fortunate to receive make the blind bit of difference as to how I or other females perform in the world of infrastructure! So I’ve never really been one for separating out that fact. Having said that though I’ve always been one to challenge stereotypes in my humorous fashion, showing up ridiculously antediluvian sentiments for what they are with respect to what women should or should not be doing.

In pressing for progress I’m also always up for challenging unconscious (and of course conscious) bias too, as I feel this one on a regular basis personally. Alongside the particular chromosomal mix I’ve been gifted in life, I’ve apparently (or so I’ve been told) been blessed with genes that make me appear younger than my actual age. The triple whammy of female, young-looking, and ready for a challenge! Many have been the times where I’ve challenged unconscious bias with respect to being a person of the female gender who happens to look relatively young, and I find this in life generally and not only in my work life. Oh how I love those conversations and challenging assumptions being made based on one’s appearance!! (See point above re enjoying the challenge!)

On a more serious note, pressing for progress for me means being able to be a point of reference for women looking to move into or develop their careers in infrastructure-related disciplines, particularly as one of the most senior females in Cardno, continuing to challenge and call out those unconscious biases and stereotypes, and being in a position fortunate enough able to support and mentor both males and females alike in that space. On a more personal note pressing for progress also means being a role model for my four nieces as they grow up and helping them to see and understand what they’re capable of.

Do you have any other quotes or comments?

Listen a lot, and listen to the naysayers in particular. They’re teaching you something. It’s just in a perverse, slightly prickly, and uncomfortable lesson of sorts. Trust me though, it’s more helpful that you realise at the time.

But in balance with that listening never, ever be afraid to ask a question or pipe up. And in the words of my mother, don’t follow anyone else’s steps – you do what you think is right.

]]>nixnealNN2What’s Your Sustainability Super Power?https://nicolenealsustainability.com/2018/02/13/whats-your-sustainability-super-power/
Tue, 13 Feb 2018 06:30:06 +0000http://nicolenealsustainability.com/?p=1100Continue Reading →]]>Well, my goodness. I had all the good intentions of writing at least a couple of blog posts in January but here we are nearly midway through February! My 2018 has started with a bang and lots going on, planned, unplanned and organic from the get go in early January. So a rather belated happy new year to you all!

So where shall I begin for this year? So many topics to discuss!

Women in sustainability or infrastructure delivery more broadly? Being a female I feel I have some views, experiences and thoughts to share in this arena. I don’t like to make a “thing” necessarily of being a female, but it’s a topic that many are discussing so I may as well add my two pen’orth.

Resilience in infrastructure – Well, I’ve certainly experienced some of the lack of a degree of resilience in transport infrastructure in particular in recent weeks!

The importance of “getting out there” in terms of developing your career in sustainability.

Having purpose and direction in what it is you’re doing and why in your sustainability career. I’ve had some twists and turns in my own career path and both mentored and coached others. It’s a topic that has come up again recently for me in discussions with others so worth sharing.

All topics I’d like to talk about at some point over the coming weeks and months, but there’s one I’ve been meaning to get out of my brain and onto the page.

I was in a workshop prior to Christmas, kindly invited by the team at Resilient Melbourne to participate in a newly formed Melbourne Resilience Collective. A collective of smart thinkers and doers (not sure how I slipped through the net! Hah!) brought together to creatively tackle resilience challenges within greater Melbourne.

And one of the icebreaker type exercises actually got me thinking in terms of what it revealed about the folks in the room. So what I hear you say? Great Nicole you’re writing a blog post about a workshop icebreaker exercise….. bear with me!

Photo provided by Pexels

Paired up and in amongst the usual introductions we were asked to think on and tell one another about particular super powers we have in our possession. Not super powers we wished we had like flying or teleporting (as awesome and potentially low carbon as that would be), but super powers that we are in actual possession of, that are our personal secret ingredients to achieving or helping to achieve what we do in our professional lives.

So yes this piqued my interest. We had a room full of people from different backgrounds, discipline and industries, extremely successful people, technically proficient people in their respective disciplines and industry sectors, and people that have achieved some amazing things – emergency managers, engineers, designers, artists, place-makers, constructors and so on.

And whilst all the answers given to what people’s super powers were actually completely different, they were all answers that reflected a very common thread – a high degree of interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

Now I’m sure I’ve harped on in previous posts about communication style and tuning in to your audience and “selling” (for want of a better, less cynical term) your message, but I’ll harp on again about it here.

In being in the room with all of these fantastic people, and listening to their answers to this simple icebreaker question underlined for me that you can be the most awesomely technically competent person in the world, top of the class, if you like, of your particular skill set or specialism, but what really sets people apart, what really get things done, as it were, is a high level of emotional awareness, emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate well.

And by communicate I mean listening, knowing when to talk and when to shut up, tuning into people and feeling for appropriate ways to engage with them, how to get people enthused and excited about your topic, issue or idea, knowing how, when and if to guide and knowing when to let people run. Your “book smarts” is one things, but pairing that up with a strong level of emotional intelligence creates a very powerful combination in terms of achieving great outcomes.

And just so you know, my personal super power (according to my icebreaker partner anyway, who got in there first and suggested this) is making infrastructure and its sustainable delivery sound sexy! And that’s aside from me being generally wildy funny (yeah, right) and a World Champion punster of course…… My passion for infrastructure and how we can plan for, design, construct, operate and maintain it more effectively, efficiently and sustainably obviously comes through and helps me in getting my message across. Perceiving some of these so-called “soft” powers can really help you to understand your key strengths and weapons in your arsenal (to use a horribly war-like analogy) to drive towards more resilient, sustainable outcomes and change for sustainability in your projects or organisations.

So what is your own super power, your “secret sauce” in achieving more sustainable, and resilient, outcomes?

So that was the year that was. 2017. Quite the mixed bag in sustainability terms for both this neck of the woods, and globally:

The disturbingly large energy and carbon footprint of Bitcoin becoming apparent. Although if and when that particular bubble bursts so too will such a footprint. More and varied cryptocurrencies will undoubtedly follow behind however, once every one calms down a bit. The future of money or just a speculative “asset”?

US President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris Agreement, apparently to abide by the four-year exit process. We’ll see how that all unfolds.

We’ve seen the continued rise and rise of electric vehicles and autonomous/ self-driving vehicles. Personally though I’m waiting for the day we don’t need roads and run our flying vehicles on Mr Fusion from compostable waste……. Come on Elon!

The tide is most definitely turning with respect to renewable energy. In South Australia we’ve seen Elon Musk and his Tesla team deliver a huge 100MW lithium ion battery in less than 100 days, with the aim of helping to prevent load shedding blackouts if and when when supply runs low during the energy-hungry Australian summer. And then there’s Musk’s SpaceX and their ability to recycle rockets – that’s got to have some positive knock-on benefits surely.

And here in Victoria we’ve seen the announcement of the very exciting Melbourne Renewable energy Project (MREP). The scheme comprises a collective of Melbourne-based local governments, cultural institutions, universities and business have collectively supporting and purchasing renewable energy from a newly constructed 39-turbine 80MW wind farm facility in rural Victoria. Fantastic stuff.

From a personal perspective I can say I’ve had a cracker of a year, working with some amazing folks, doing some great things:

And putting my money where my mouth is, leading by example, and going 100% off-grid – living on solar power and batteries, tank water and super-water-saving (i.e. uses no water!) composting toilet.

So back to the wider world and a myriad of other macro-trends and drivers going on – more extreme weather events and increasing direct physical evidence of climate change, Brexit and the political fragmentation of Europe (see Catalonia, Scottish independence movement, continuing struggles over the Euro etc etc), ongoing and increasingly marked social inequality, population increase and population movement, political polarisation and so on – what can we potentially expect in 2018?

Well, if I had a crystal ball and could tell you the direct answer to that I probably wouldn’t be sitting here typing right now! There are somethings that are known and more obviously heading our way, some waves that will come crashing down on our shores, some waves that will continue to build momentum out at sea for a while to come. Some things a little way off on the horizon yet, out in the wide blue yonder….

A Modern Slavery Act in Australia is likely to come into force in 2018, following in the footsteps of the UK. Such legislation will put the onus on Australian businesses of a certain size to publish annual statements outlining how they address modern slavery not only in their direct operations but also throughout their supply chains.

And in that vein supply chain sustainability, both in the human/ social element and broader socio-economic and environmental elements, will continue to come to the fore. I predict the continued strengthening of the likes of the Australian Supply Chain Sustainability School and their importance in capacity building in the Australian market.

In fact I only see an increasing level of prominence and influence of ISCA and the IS rating tool in Australia and New Zealand. I also expect to see the piloting and delivery of the first IS registered project in South East Asia in 2018.

Increased growth and development of the Smart Cities movement. Community, energy, transport, technology, and data links all continuing to strengthen.

Resilience coming more into common parlance, and strengthening and embedding of resilience principles into projects, schemes and initiatives. Some great activity in going to take place in this space in 2018 I feel, with collaboration and integration of differing service providers and sections of the community to help create more resilient communities, towns, cities and urban places.

Continuing focus on food and water security, and investment in alternative meats, agritechnology and a focus on regenerative agricultural practices.

It would be great to see more action from the various Governments on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (I’m not necessarily holding my breath here) and I think business will continue to lead change and set the example.

Big banks being a lot more selective in their funding. Increasing moves away from fossil fuels as we’ve seen begin to happen already this year, moves away from chicken coop-style square metreage in residential developments, moves towards “green” developments in infrastructure, residential, commercial and industrial sectors.

Increasing population growth and urbanisation of populations in our broader Asia Pacific region – here in Australia, in New Zealand and particularly in South East Asian nations – will really continue drive the need for new and improved infrastructure of all varieties. Opportunities abound for the delivery of sustainable infrastructure and infrastructure delivered in a sustainable manner.

The continuing growth and expansion of urban centres, particularly in this neck of the woods, will continue to put pressure on transport infrastructure continuing to add to congestion pressures in the short-to-medium term.

Continued Government investment in infrastructure (you’d hope that one was a no-brainer). But with this there will be a squeeze on capacity to deliver. Engineers, Scientists and all involved in infrastructure delivery your time is now!! The world is your oyster to deliver some smart, safe, efficient and sustainable infrastructure!

It’s an exciting time, and plenty to look forward to in the year to come. Thanks for reading in 2017, all. Have a relaxing (and sustainable) holidays and if I don’t manage to squeeze in another post before year’s end see you all on here for more musings in 2018.

So I’ve been a little busy lately and time just seems to have flown by in the last few weeks. But all in an exciting and fulfilling manner.

The reason for my being busy? I’m pleased to say that I’ve taken on a new role, as Asia-Pacific Environment & Sustainability Director at large ASX-listed professional service consulting firm, Cardno.

After working with, achieving and helping others achieve many good things with respect to sustainability and sustainable infrastructure in the construction industry and McConnell Dowell at an organisation level in particular, it was time to branch out and go for some new challenges.

And so I accepted the challenge of taking on this new Director role – coalescing a regional team of extremely dedicated and technically proficient professionals, developing and leading the implementation of a new strategy in the Environment and Sustainability space for Cardno in the region and growing the business. Easy right?!

I jest of course, but I have no doubt it will be a positive experience, particularly working with the fabulous folks in the team that I’m now meeting and getting to know across Australia and New Zealand. I know it’s my job to pump them up and spruik them, but genuinely they are some seriously talented and people highly dedicated to their disciplines, be it ecology, climate change flood risk assessment, coastal management or environmental managers and everything else in between.

Laying the Foundations

So my initial few weeks in my new role here are all about laying some solid foundations – solid foundations with respect to relationships with my new colleagues and team members and understanding the lay of the land upon which to build our new strategy together.

And it is very much a together thing. I like to think of myself as the conduit through which to shape and guide the new strategy and direction but its strength will lie in the various team members’ inputs and sense of ownership.

As such, one of the most important things I can do (and am doing) with my time at the moment is to meet as many folks as possible face-to-face, one-on-one and in groups, around the region. And this time is spent asking lots of questions, doing lots of listening and learning – a fact-finding mission if you will – drawing together various threads of messages, thoughts, ideas, opinions, concerns and opportunities. As I talk to people a number of consistent messages are coming through which are clear action points for us, and start to provide that starting point and foundation from which to grow our strategy.

In addition to that I’m also gauging the outside temperature, as it were. It’s all very well and good looking at ourselves internally and where we want to go, but unless we’re also talking with clients, partners and other key external stakeholders about what it is they really need help with, who we are, what we represent currently to them, and indeed how we are currently and could be assisting them, then the internal stuff is quite meaningless really! So that’s also what I’m doing, understanding how people in the wider world think and feel about the organisation currently, what their key issues and pressure points are for them, and where could potentially help them out with those.

So that’s all today folks – I may have gone a little quiet on the blog front recently, but I am still here and I am still blogging moving forwards. And I’m sure there will be lots to talk about, discuss and share. Watch this space!

It was genuinely humbling to be singled out in amongst a wealth of individuals and teams that are doing some absolutely fantastic work in this space. It was also humbling for all the congratulations I’ve been receiving over this past week. Thank you everyone.

As I said in my acceptance speech on the night, the fact that the three finalists were all female is a fantastic thing. It goes to show that there are some amazing women doing some amazing things in what has been a traditionally male-dominated industry. So well done to my fellow finalists Liz Root and Reanna Harper too.

And a big thank you to my, now former, employer (more on that in a post to follow) McConnell Dowell and my former Executive General Manager, Samantha Johnson in particular. Without the trust that Sam had placed in me it would have been very difficult to do half the things I’ve done in recent years in getting sustainability better understood in McConnell Dowell and the parties with which I worked, and “on the table” so to speak.

And one doesn’t do things in isolation or on ones own – there are teams internally to an organisation, externally, mentors, guides and wonderful peers to talk to and bounce ideas around with. In that respect I thanked Glenn Hedges, Rick Walters and Renuka Sabaratnam on the night and I thank you guys again here.

And of course a big thank you to Ainsley Simpson, Antony Spring and the whole team at ISCA. Again, as I said on the evening, you guys are doing some amazing things and pushing things along and so that makes people like me want to push things along and join in with the “doing” of amazing things too!

The folks at ISCA put together a fabulous video story from the 2017 ISCA Annual Conference and Awards, featuring some fantastic industry players (and muggins here) talking about sustainability. Check it out:

What is that exactly? And why is that a question worthy of asking and attempting to answer?

Well, before I get to answering that question let me take you through a bit of a story.

The construction organisation I currently work for has been through somewhat of a “journey”, and in a number of respects that journey is not yet finished (and I mean that with all the greatest of respect – things take time!).

A key part of that journey has been in getting to grips with sustainability and what it means to the organisation, what it looks and feels like, what it brings, what it influences, who it influences and so on. And, as with other parts of the journey the organisation is on, that is still a path unwinding.

In playing my part in the organisation in getting to grips with sustainability, I’ve come to realise or rather had my thoughts confirmed on a few key things:

Positive, tailored engagement is key

I’m not talking about all up in your face, inane, stupid, gap-toothed grinning “isn’t this great” kind of approaches. That kind of thing is enough to make even the most committed of sustainability advocates turn to feelings of violence! Ok, well, maybe not. But my point is that even in the face of hardened, antediluvian types (and this organisation is far from filled with those I hasten to add!) one must remain not only resilient, but also positive and ensure that your messaging is tailored to the audience both in terms of its style and content. And always keep a sense of humour. Always!

That engagement doesn’t have to be through formal or organised channels all the time, in fact not even most of the time

A lot of the “wins”, for want of a better term, I’ve experienced in getting sustainability taken seriously, getting on the table during conversations, getting it embedded into hearts and minds is through informal conversations. Not necessarily hammering home the point and beating people into submission, but taking opportunities to weave sustainability threads in to conversations, into discussions and decision-making. And bringing a little bit of enthusiasm and measured passion (in the right way of course – see point 1). In that way it starts to find its own way on to agendas and people start asking you about it, and asking you (or others) about sustainability what can be done on this project or that tender or improvements to this or that part of the system.

People want to do the “right” things, but it has got to be about the business. A win-win (and as many other “wins” as you can get in)

Show the business imperative for something and it’s really hard to argue against that, even for the hardest and most stoic of individuals. Don’t know how to demonstrate a business case, quantified or unquantified? Then now’s a good time to learn. ISCA has a great free resource on this – here.

Talk the language of those you’re talking with

Going with a very simplistic analogy here (and cultural nuances aside!) in attempting to conduct business in Japan, an English-speaker needs to learn Japanese (or at least get a very good translator!). Attempting to continue speaking in English is unlikely to get you very far…… Same here. Sustainability practitioners and those that are immersed in all its terminology need to immerse themselves in the language of who they’re talking with – engineering, construction, procurement, business. Then understanding can begin to happen and cross-fertilisation of language also begins.

Sustainability advocates can come from all corners, and might just pleasantly surprise you

Turn the volume down on your own pre-conceived notions of what people in certain departments or professions may think or believe. That’s all that needs to be said on that matter!

Now I’m sure there are more learnings and confirmed thoughts tucked away in this brain of mine, but that’ll do for now as we need to bring things back around to the questions at the top of this piece – what exactly is sustainability in construction and why is that important question?

Let’s answer the latter question first.

What sustainability is in construction is an important question to ask because it frames the issue, it means there’s an issue to address, that needs to be addressed. Kind of like a drug-dependant person addressing their addiction. You have to realise there’s an issue to then understand its nature and do something with it.

And there is an issue – in 2013, the construction industry was responsible for just over 18% of Australia’s total carbon footprint1. That ain’t small biccies, people!

Admittedly that’s just looking at a very small part of the broader sustainability picture, but you catch my drift – the construction industry has a large impact on Australia and the globe from an environmental, social and economic perspective. This is why it’s important to ask what is sustainability in construction.

So, to that question – what is sustainability in construction?

It’s looking at and actually delivering things – infrastructure, buildings, built environments – in a more efficient and effective way, considerate of the interplay of societal needs, environment, finance, economics, under appropriate governance structures. It’s working towards and playing our part in delivering the UN Sustainable Development Goals in so doing. It’s about creating resilience, in its various forms, in the communities we work in.

But before any of these things it is a mindset.

If you take a look at those five points above these are all driven by mindset – an open, growth-focussed mindset to learning and adapting from a sustainability practitioner’s perspective, and helping others to see and understand what sustainability really is and how it helps achieves an organisation’s goals (in achieving broader national and global goals).

Sustainability in construction is a mindset. There has to be a genuine, collective understanding and will that things can be done better, more efficiently, differently. And once the majority are on board with that mindset change can begin to happen.

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Thu, 28 Sep 2017 03:00:21 +0000http://nicolenealsustainability.com/?p=1040Continue Reading →]]>Hello folks – it has been a while again between posts hasn’t it?! Lots going on here for me, and some change afoot, but more on that in a later post. There are plenty of other things to be talking about before coming onto that.

I thought I’d talk today about the topic of rewilding.

I read a book earlier this year called Feral: Rewilding the Land, Sea and Human Life by the fabulous author George Monbiot. If you’ve not checked out his blog, and you have an interest in sustainability I highly recommend you do – www.monbiot.com.

Reading this book sparked a number of trains of thoughts off in my brain and this spark was also caught by the tinder of my husband and I having recently, around 9 months ago, being fortunate enough to move to central Victoria and owning ourselves a slice of “rewilding” Australian landscape. I like to think of us becoming “custodians really rather than owners per se, because how can anyone ever really “own” something so ancient as the rocks, soils and ancient rootstocks? Anyhow, I’m getting a little too philosophical perhaps too early on in the piece here!

The book Feral talks primarily from a British perspective, but looking from an Australian perspective (and thinking just down here in our wee south-east corner of the continent as the area know best) the same or similar principle applies that a good deal of what we see around us as “natural” or “wild” or “wilderness” is actually far from it.

The Indigenous peoples certainly shaped and managed the landscape to suit their needs for various food and fibre resources (although I’m not a great expert in that area and don’t make pretence of being so). Post-Contact the non-Indigenous peoples being transported, or settling and making a home or seeking a fortune for themselves in the goldfields certainly changed the shape of the landscape and its flora and fauna through farming, land management practices and more invasive activities such as gold and minerals mining.

This gold mining activity is one that I’m acutely aware of, now living on the land immediately adjacent the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park and right in the midst of what was essentially one of the first gold mining areas in Australia in the 1850 and ’60s.

To the uninitiated this area looks like a vast swathe of box-ironbark forest with endless eucalypts, understoreys of black and golden wattles, and a forest floor of scrubby shrubs, grasses and wildflowers amongst the rocky outcrops. However, on closer inspection and not too much of a dig around in the history of the area one soon comes to realise that this is an area in recovery, an area undergoing rewilding.

The majority of the trees are either 100% new growth or are coppice regrowth with four, five, sometimes up to six or seven spindly trunks per tree (the aftermath of miners in the area either coppicing for firewood or realising the strength of the box woods in particular for using is shoring up mine workings and so on, back in the day). There are relatively few old large trees remaining. Those that do remain stick out like the proverbial sore thumb and are quite noticeable.

But the trees are growing nonetheless, and amongst the remnant drainage lines, sluice structures, huts and brick engine housing in the undergrowth the forest is slowly coming back. Soils are building back up, birds such as the powerful owl and barking owl are returning (I know because I’m fortunate enough to have heard both), little eagles and wedge-tailed eagles come through roosting in trees or majestically sweeping through the skies above, amphibians are breeding voraciously in the waterways (again, I know because I’ve heard them a lot this winter!), orchids and flax lilies are poking their heads out, wallabies, kangaroos, phascogales and antichinus are regular visitors. Things are rewilding.

And I’m keen, as is my husband (who is the most ardent of engineers, I might add), to let the rewilding process continue, letting the landscape, the flora and fauna do more or less its own thing in its own time and space with relatively little interference from us (save for some firewood gathering, walking through the forst and me going out armed with a pruning saw and secateurs to eradicate an errant rose-hip, gorse bush or bramble that pops up here and there!). Why? There are few places like this, and few locations where some of the unique flora and fauna survive. We want to do our bit to help that. Keep the land moving in its own direction away from the destructive processes of the gold mining 150 or so years ago and other activities thereafter, so that flora, fauna and future peoples, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, can equally enjoy. And I realise there may be sensitivities around a privileged white immigrant saying these things. This I recognise and am highly cognisant of. The Dja Dja Wurrung people I recognise and respect you as the traditional custodians of this land that I’m so so fortunate to call my home.

In allowing those natural processes to occur and to observe change, both relatively rapidly season to season, and more slowly as things we fold out over the years, makes one realise our place in the world. It makes one feel small and humble, and that we’re part of a much bigger system of living things. It talks to something almost primeval, a connection with and to nature.

It’s kind of like a human rewilding, which Monbiot also touches on in his book. Human rewilding and our interaction with nature – natural cycles, sun and moon cycles, knowing and experiencing the real proper dark of a new moon and the bright light of the fullest of moons, knowing and experiencing real proper quiet with no traffic noise and only the sound of the wind through the eucalypt leaves and birds twittering to one another, the different types of light, growing cycles, when certain plant life appears, blooms and fades away, when certain species of moth appear, when spiders appear and disappear, navigating a landscape, experiencing the wonderful close encounters with bird life, marsupials large and small and even feral mammals.

So what’s my point here? Well, I suppose it’s this. With the ever-increasing expansion of urban areas, encroachment into wild (or more “natural” or “green”) spaces of those urban areas, what do we stand to lose? And with the increasing prevalence of so-called “lifestyle” diseases, both physical and mental, what is it that we as a so-called “developed” society need? I’m not saying that we all go out and live in the countryside, nor am I saying that we necessarily just let everything go back to nature and live back to basics style, but there is a better balance to be struck here in terms of our connectivity to nature and natural experiences.

And with respect to the sustainability of our natural ecosystems, I feel we need a better collective understanding of what is “natural” and “wild”, a better collective understanding and connection to Indigenous knowledge of nature and natural systems, and deciding where we want to go with managing these natural areas in terms of environmental policies, how we manage human populations and develop our cities, towns and urban and connecting infrastructure.